A listener of The WHOLE Athlete podcast sent me this question… which I am sure you have a similar question!
Listener Question:
I’m looking for a bit of fitness help and can you give some advice?
I just got myfitnesspal app now to get a bit more serious, and already eat fairly well, but looking to get a baseline of how much I should be working out, calories I should have..
There is so much info to read online, different diets, I just want to be told some things! I guess basics is exercise and eat well, but I’m sure you have some good knowledge to share.
I thought stuff like quinoa and whole wheat bread is good but then I read it’s full of carbs, and maybe I should be on lower carb diet.
I workout regularly and eat okay but would like to get a little more structure in place so I know I’m getting proper results and pushing hard enough, not eating too much or too little, eating wrong things…
Real Thoughts with Debbie Potts: Answer
- MyFitnesspal is a great place to start for tracking your macronutrients but make sure you don’t feel stressed or obsessed with tracking your information – while forgetting to enjoy your food and the experience.
- A food tracker as MYFITNESSPAL is a good way to get your baseline on how many macronutrients- carbohydrates, protein and fats you should have to balance your blood sugar, feel full for hours and satiated (reduced cravings and crashes).
- For at least a month, I would use a blood sugar testing kit and even measure your ketones as KETO MOJO (available on Amazon here).
- The goal is to burn fat and lose weight for everyone (usually!) so we need to teach our bodies to be metabolic efficient- fat burning machines. Think of the fuel you feed a fire to keep it burning for hours…would you use a big fat log or kindling? Fat versus sugar. GOOD healthy sources of fat keep us full, satisfied and energized while balancing our blood sugars. Our goal should be to avoid the blood sugar spikes and insulin surges which result in fat storage!
- If you are looking for a baseline weight- start with weighing yourself once a week and taking measurements around chest, waist, hips plus mid-arms and mid-thighs.
- If you know of someone or somewhere to get your body fat tested to start – plus even a metabolic efficiency test at rest and during exercise then we can set more specific goals.
- How many calories should you have per day? How many carbs, proteins and fats should you eat? It depends. As above, measure blood sugar and ketones plus get a metabolic efficiency test completed where you live.
Another question…“I thought stuff like quinoa and whole wheat bread is good but then I read it’s full of carbs, and maybe I should be on lower carb diet.” How many carbs are in Quinoa? People always say how great Quinoa is for protein but they forget to look at how many carbs it has as well as good fiber. This is such a common question that Livestrong actually has a blog post on Quinoa in low carb diets…Click here for the article
One-half cup of cooked quinoa contains 111 calories, 4 grams of protein, about 2 grams of fat and almost 20 grams of carbohydrates. Low-carb diets count only “net” carbs — total grams of carbs minus grams of fiber. Because nearly 3 grams of the carbs in quinoa are from fiber, it contains 17 net grams of carbs.
And for the rest of the listener’s questions…I can talk about each one for 30 minutes easily!
Question: “So much info to read online, different diets, I just want to be told some things!”…
As I said in a previous blog and podcast… everyone is unique so there is no one size fits all approach to how many carbs, protein and fats that you need to eat per day to create weight loss. A low carbohydrate, moderate protein and higher healthy fat diet is suggested for the majority of our society since we were taught incorrect information and raised with the mentality that all fat is bad for us and to eat as many non-fat, high-carb foods to lose weight. Now most of us are metabolically damaged from over consuming processed foods, refined sugars and vegetable oils. Most of us went for a ride on the blood sugar roller coaster and we never got off the ride…until now.
Perhaps you are experimenting with cutting back on carbohydrates as you hear of amazing low carb and ketosis weight loss stories from other friends and social media posts. What I say all the time on the podcast and to my clients: the goal is to balance blood sugar and to avoid the insulin surges (fat storage hormone) to burn fat. As you may have figured out on your own- everyone has different carbohydrate tolerances which means you can eat more or less carbs than me and still burn fat and ketones. Keep in mind that cutting back on your carbohydrate consumption is not the only focus on a fat loss program.
There is a reason that I include eight elements in THE WHOLESTIC METHOD program to teach people how to become FAT BURNERS… including happiness. If you are unhappy, depressed and anxious or if you have brain fog, memory and focus challenges then we need to look at what is off-balance internally with your digestion, gut biome, leaky gut, neurotransmitters and more. Sometimes if you can’t lose weight when cutting down on carbohydrates then we look at other areas of opportunity or dysfunction.
In my personal story, LIFE IS NOT A RACE… IT IS A JOURNEY, I shared my addiction to doing more and over-doing life each day which resulted in weight gain, fatigue and burnout. You can order my book here and learn more about chronic fatigue, exhaustion and the internal domino effect that is the end result. EVERY STRESS RESPONSE IS A BLOOD SUGAR RESPONSE. So even if you are cutting back on the carbohydrates and replacing those foods with healthy fats or more clean protein sources, you still need to work on managing your stress internally and externally.
“Too much of anything can be toxic…and too little of anything can create deficiencies.”- I explain in my books. You must find your own tipping point on how much stress is good stress and doesn’t over fill your beaker of stress. Then we have sleep- which most people don’t sleep well due to various reasons including staying up too late on their electronic devices and television or eating too close to bedtime. We need our sleep to recover, repair and detoxify.
Another question from our listener…”I guess basics is exercise and eat well, but I’m sure you have some good knowledge to share.”
How much exercise is too much and creates another source of stress. Well you can learn a lot about that factor in my book LIFE IS NOT A RACE but often I tell my clients less is more…more is not better. If you have a “Type A+” personality as myself, we tend to do too much each day and that includes our exercise session. 
Which is better- a run for 90 minutes or a 45-minute run with intervals at the finish? It depends. Life is Not a Race…It is a Journey: Learn how to pace the WHOLE you with The WHOLESTIC Method
Next question – “I workout regularly and eat okay but would like to get a little more structure in place so I know I’m getting proper results and pushing hard enough, not eating too much or too little, eating wrong things…”
What we want to look for in our exercise sessions includes EFFICIENCY. How can we exercise and get more bang for our buck? Intervals…but the “goldilocks effect”- not too many and not too little. Find the right amount of intervals going high heart rate (red zone on MYZONE) and recover (blue zone on MYZONE). Again it depends on the individual- if you are under high stress and not sleeping well then I am not going to have you do any “HIIT” (high intensity interval training”) until you are feeling better. Sometimes a low-heart rate workout session in the outdoors with sunshine is more effective than HIIT training session for 30-45 minutes. Another topic is over training and under recovery- as most clients who are consistent with HIIT workouts often do too many high heart rate workouts each week and do not add enough low heart rate recovery sessions and low-heart rate aerobic engine workouts at MAF (Max Aerobic Function).
Metabolic efficiency. We want to burn more fat and not depend on sugar for our daily fuel source. Remember – do you want to burn big fat slow burning Duraflame logs or fast burning kindling wood to keep the fire burning all day long?
Create a workout plan on a program with a coach (ideally) on Training Peaks so you know if you are over training and under recoverying… or the other way around. Undertraining is another issue or area of opportunity! Move more and add mobility drills each day. As I explain in my manual – movement per day is just as important as a daily workout session. If you go for a 45-minute workout in the morning then sit on your rear end the rest of the day then you are not really helping yourself as much as you would if you got up and moved each hour plus implemented mobility drills throughout the day. Stand up, squat a few times, reach over head, lunge, twist, and open up the opposite direction than you have been sitting. Mobility, stability, strength and core work. Get a coach to make sure you are training correctly and efficiently to determine the right amount and types of workouts for your needs, goals and interests. You should feel happy, energized and alive after you eat as well as post workout. Not tired, lethargic and brain fog.
Any other questions… “It depends!” Is usually the answer!
Learn more on my next podcast and blog post! I am on a mission to help educate you to become a fat burning machine while improving performance and longevity with The WHOLESTIC Method. Reach out with any questions you would like to add into the new Thursday episode of “Real Thoughts with Debbie Potts” on The WHOLE Athlete podcast.
Until then,
Take care of the WHOLE you from the inside out with The WHOLESTIC Method!
Debbie Potts
